Death and Rebirth
Artwork credit: Jill Harrison
How does death and rebirth show up in your life?
Since Samhain, The Morrigan has become ever more present in my own life.
A member of the Tuatha De Dannan, The Morrigan is a triple Goddess figure associated with battle, fate, fertility, magic, sexuality and death and rebirth. She was known to shapeshift into a crow over the battlefield, summoning strength and strategy in her allies and fear in the opposition.
Through Samhain and leading into the Winter Solstice I showed up for all that needed to be released from my life, enjoying the expansion this created. However I was taken deeper than I felt ready to go, through the illness and passing of my familiar, Rufino. The dying of the season has been palpable in my life, and although I trusted the initiation this was gifting me, I was beginning to wonder when, or even if, I would begin to step into my rebirth.
The Morrigan took to my dreams to show me the answer, and over three consecutive nights I met her essence in different forms.
First I found myself in a wild garden with a young girl, who took me into the overgrowth to collect feathers from a fallen crow. We planned to gather these, knowing we were going to make something new from them.
The following night I was looking after a baby girl. I told her mother what I was sensing energetically of her character, namely that she would be well versed in helping people transition from death to rebirth.
Finally, I found myself on a battlefield. For over ten years I’ve experienced the same dream of war, and as they always strike terror in me, I developed the ability to go lucid in them and somewhat control the happenings. Oftentimes I would go invisible, run away and hide in the bushes, or sometimes I would call a great eagle to come and take me away from the battlefield. I often wondered why I never had the courage to fight in the dream, and at what point in my life would this plot change, if ever.
On the third night, I was faced with this familiar battlefield but this time, I took up a bow and arrows and fought until there was only member of the opposition left, who we let surrender.
These dreams have been clear messages for me that my rebirth is taking place.
How is death and rebirth showing up in your life during these seasons of letting go? Look to your dreams. Look to the the circumstances in your life that are shifting and changing. Which changes are you adjusting to with grace? Which are you battling against? Can a shift in perspective bring ease and flow to these changes?
We cannot experience rebirth without death. As we have just entered into the Winter Solstice season, know that it is natural to be experiencing a “dark night of the soul” at this time. However, there is light on the horizon. During the Winter Solstice we are not just acknowledging the consuming darkness but also celebrating the slow return of the sun. From now on, the light will continue to grow, gifting both the land and our souls a joyous rebirth.